West Manatee Fire Rescue to celebrate new station in Bradenton with open house

West Manatee Fire Rescue Chief Tom Sousa sat at a long dining table Friday afternoon inside his agency’s new central home — Fire Station No. 1, 407 67th St. W., Bradenton. The room, like the rest of the building, has an industrial and modern feel.

West Manatee Fire Rescue on Saturday will celebrate the highly-anticipated 9,600-square-foot building in an open house ceremony. The event scheduled for 10 a.m. will feature remarks by Sousa and others, concluding a chapter in the agency’s history after officials broke ground on the $2.8 million station’s construction in December 2015.

The ceremony will also posthumously honor former Fire Marshal Robert “Bob” Kline, to which the station is dedicated at the suggestion of West Manatee Fire Capt. Chris Shephard.

“He loved being a firefighter, even after he retired,” Shephard said. “Bob was originally the first firefighter hired at the station. Bob used to go out and water the lawn every day. He took pride in the building.”

Kline, who was a Northwest Bradenton native, served at the Westside Fire and Rescue District in multiple roles and was instrumental in the establishment and growth of the West Manatee Fire Rescue, according to a release. A black-and-white photo of him hangs in the new station’s foyer area. In it, the bespectacled Kline smiles with his right hand on a fire apparatus.

“The most important thing about this building, the new fire station, was it’s built to current hurricane standards,” Sousa said of the station, adding that this was one of the driving forces behind its construction.

In the past, Sousa said West Manatee Fire Rescue did not have a fire station that could sustain hurricane force winds.

“When the decision was made to build this building, it was decided that we build it to withstand Category 4 hurricane force winds,” he said. “What that will do is that will allow us to bring the fire apparatus from our other two stations — the Holmes Beach station and the Cortez station — into this building during our hurricane and will house our personnel here with the equipment.”

West Manatee Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Rich Jasinski, who sat across from Sousa Friday, said everything is now here.

“So if a storm were to come through, storm passes, we’re not waiting for our assets to come back,” he explained, adding that firefighters can now immediately start working from this central point and work their way through the district to meet the public’s needs.

Because the new building can withstand hurricane force winds, staff will no longer be forced to head out east with their equipment during a hurricane.

“By building this station to where it’s survivable in a storm, we’re not having to go east. We’re right here, so we won’t need to count on anyone to start operation again,” Sousa added. “We don’t need to rely on the county or FEMA or anybody to start operating within our district.”

The fire chief then stood up and began a tour of the new building. The first stop was the kitchen, which includes three refrigerators for three separate work shifts. It’s like the gathering area for firefighters. The fire chief opened one of many shift lockers along a wall — in it was an assortment of items including a 12-pack of Sam’s Mountain Lightning Soda and Mission flour tortillas.

Sousa led the way past an office for the station supervisors, through the tidy foyer, operations room, data center and fitness room.

The new building provides more comfort to its firefighters, Sousa said. There is a room with large armchairs and a television for “rest and relaxation in the evening.” The biggest of the comforts, though, are eight individual sleeping quarters, according to Sousa. The previous building, he said, had a bunk room that was very cramped.

“In this facility, what we did is we provided individual sleeping quarters, especially for the future because the fire service and the EMS service is changing and we have more diversity,” he said. “We didn’t have good co-ed type facilities in the other building.”

Outside in the apparatus bay, Sousa said they’re now able to store at least six large pieces of fire apparatus.

Back in December 2015 after the station’s groundbreaking ceremony was held, then-fire district commission chairman Randy Cooper said the new building was a big deal, and something that the agency had to do.

“I think the building outlived its use for us, and I don’t think we had a choice but to take this extreme step,” he said at the time about the old building. “This is something we put a lot of thought into and we think it's going to benefit the district and the community.”

This story was originally published October 2, 2016 at 6:17 PM with the headline "West Manatee Fire Rescue to celebrate new station in Bradenton with open house."